SkyBridge decision on deal to sell firm expected by end of February: CIO

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A decision on the sale of SkyBridge Capital LLC, owned by former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, to a consortium that includes Chinese conglomerate HNA Group [HNAIRC.UL] should be made by the end of February, the firm’s chief investment officer said on Tuesday.

FILE PHOTO - Anthony Scaramucci, Founder and Co-Managing Partner at SkyBridge Capital attends the session "The Growth Illusion" during the Annual Meeting 2016 of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland on January 20, 2016. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich/File Photo

“I think we’ll hear one way or another how this is going to shape up by the end of the month,” Skybridge CIO Ray Nolte told Reuters in an interview.

“I think we’re getting toward the finish line one way or another,” Nolte said. “I think this will be a very telling month.”

HNA Group first announced its intention to buy a majority stake in the hedge fund investment firm in January 2017.

More than a year later, HNA and SkyBridge have faced repeated delays in getting the deal approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a government agency that scrutinizes foreign purchases of U.S. assets to protect national security interests.

Representatives from HNA Group and CFIUS were not immediately available for comment.

Earlier this year, Reuters reported that the U.S. government would not approve any investment by HNA until the Chinese conglomerate provided adequate information on who its shareholders are, according to a source familiar with the situation.